American Legion baseball: Post 28 outslugs Inman

Spartanburg hung on for a 12-11 victory on Tuesday night despite loading the bases with no outs in the 11th inning.

By TODD SHANESYtodd.shanesy@shj.com

INMAN — Ian Kimbrell was too sick to start, but not too sick to finish.Kimbrell, who spent most of Tuesday in bed with flu-like symptoms and was not able to take his turn on the mound, came in late and escaped a bases-loaded, nobody-out jam in the bottom of the 11th inning as Spartanburg beat Inman, 12-11, at Inman Mills.“I’m still feeling pretty bad,” Kimbrell said afterward. “But I told them I would suck it up and pitch an inning if I needed to. And that’s what I did.”Post 28 scored three runs with two out in the top of the ninth the send the game into extra innings, and scratched across the eventual game-winner in the 11th after the first two batters were retired. In the bottom half, Inman filled the bases and had three shots to keep the game alive or win it against Kimbrell.Dallas Betsill (Spartanburg Methodist signee) opened the Inman 11th with a double to the wall and Brooks Richardson followed with a bunt single. Spartanburg intentionally walked Hunter Lipscomb to load the bases.“Winning run at second and nobody out? I’ll take that every time,” Inman head coach Steve Skinner said. “We just didn’t execute.”Kimbrell got a fly ball to right field, too shallow to score the run. Then on a squeeze bunt, first baseman Luke Graves charged in, scooped and flipped to the plate for a force out on a close play with dust flying. Kimbrell then got a strikeout on three pitches to nail it down.“With a little luck, good stuff happens,” he said. “That’s really how baseball is. We had luck on our side tonight.”Spartanburg had a 7-1 lead after three turns at bat, partly because of a three-run homer by Ike Thalassinos (another SMC signee) in a four-run first. But that was gone by the bottom of the third and Inman took an 11-8 lead into the ninth.With two outs and a runner on first, Post 28 had three straight hits by Thalassinos, Derrick MacMillan (yet another headed for SMC) and Drew Prince, the latter two bringing in runs. Prince then got intentionally hung up between first and second. With the Inman defense focused on him, MacMillan scampered home and barely got there before the tag on Prince.MacMillan pitched a scoreless bottom of the ninth, as he did in the eighth and 10th, to give Post 28 a chance for another rally.“The guys really do have tremendous confidence in their offense,” Spartanburg head coach Barry Keith said. “If we’re down one, two or three runs, they’re not feeling threatened. They have that much confidence in their bats.”With two outs in the top of the 11th, Thalassinos singled and moved into scoring position on an errant pickoff throw. MacMillan then ripped a ball past the shortstop, who went to a knee for a backhand try, and into left field for the RBI.“That’s the way it goes sometimes,” Skinner said. “But I’m proud of the kids for the way they battled back and hung in there. They could have quit in the third inning but they didn’t.”Post 28 had three hits each from Prince, Thalassinos and Grayland Fowler. Kimbrell, as the designated hitter, had two hits and a sacrifice fly RBI. Inman’s Chris Stewart went 4-for-6 with three RBIs, while Lipscomb was 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles.Spartanburg (8-3) stayed a game in front of Union (5-2) and Inman (4-3). Post 28 plays Wednesday at Gaffney (3-6), while Union is at Inman and Greer plays at Travelers Rest.